A Kid!
by OptCalledNalu
Summary: it had been a normal mission for Lucy and Natsu (well, as normal as things can get with Natsu around) but when a child appears from out of now where in the middle of the woods and collapses right before their eyes- what will they do? who is this kid and why are they in the woods? how did they get there in the first place? crappy summary but i swear its better than it sounds!
1. Chapter 1

**hey guys! so this is a story that just kinda came into my head one night at like 1am after reading some fanfics with this idea for some other ships in different shows, so no the idea isnt mine but its more like im using the prompt "strange kid" as a base for this story, like how people use the idea that dragon slayers go through dragon mating season or have only one mate for life. and if you read this and have already made a story using this idea, i swear the story plot is mine, if it is similar to anyones in anyway it was not intentional. so please just give it a shot.**

**disclaimer: i do not own fairytail in any way all rights go to hiro mashima.**

Chapter one: Who is she?

"HMPF" Lucy trudged off ahead of me with her arms crossed on her chest.

"sheesh, you don't need to get so upset about it. Its just a top." She turned around

"JUST A TOP?! JUST A TOP?! CLOTHES COST MONEY NATSU, MONEY THAT WE LOST CAUSE OF YOUR DESTRUCTIVE HABITS!" destructive habits? I admit I tend to destroy things, but I didn't do it on purpose!

"HEY ITS NOT MY FAULT THE GUY THREW ME INTO A BUILDING!"

"AND THE CHURCH YOU ALMOST DESTROYED?!"

"HOW COULD I HAVE KNOW THE GUY COULD DODGED MY PUNCH! I THOUGHT HE WAS TOO DAZED TO DODGE AN ELAPHANT"

"WELL YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE ONE WITH HOW LOUD AND DESTRUCTIVE YOU CAN BE!"

We had been on our way back from a rather successful mission when we stumbled on a town being attacked by a dark guild that was demanding money and anyone that had even the tiniest bit of magic in their body. Under normal circumstances me and Lucy would have never taken a whole guild on by our selves. We were about to leave to go get back up from the nearest legal guild there was, but as soon as a crying women outside of a school told us that they took the children as hostages, and were taking children with the potential to be wizards; we snapped. Together we charged into the school and started attacking. The guild had been shocked that someone could be foolish enough to charge in while the children were being held hostage, and they didn't have time to react. Me and Lucy had taken down half of them before they even realized what happened; mainly because Lucy had summoned both Loke and Aquarius right away, using the water fountains in the halls to summon her, so that she could help the kids get outside and I could focus on the bad guys and not have to worry about her or the kids.

I had actually been scared that Aquarius would start screaming about Lucy interrupting her date or something, but when she saw the kids running terrified her expression changed to shocked, then back to anger, but this time towards the dark guild members.

Within five minutes we had gotten most of the kids out of the building and taken down about half of the dark guilds members, fighting together with Loke (who had figured out the situation pretty quick and started using his own power to keep his gate open) the battle had spilled outside and was now raging across town while Lucy and Aries ushered worried parents and scared children to town hall away from all the fighting. Finally, all that was left to do was defeat the dark guild master and free the children he had captured for their magical power.

When I had found were the master had been hiding with the captured children, all I could do for a moment was stare at him, I didn't even know the mans name and I hated him as much as I had ever hated an enemy of fairy tail, I had met his gaze for a second and he flinched, that was all I needed and was about to attack. But then Lucy came running in behind me yelling that all of the citizens were safe and all of the children that hadn't been taken were accounted for by all of the parents. When she saw the master she stopped for a second then started walking forward. I was shocked that she would approach a guild master so haphazardly, and was about to tell her to be careful, but I was her eyes and stopped. Her eyes blazed with anger and hate towards that one man, anger and hate that she (like me) normally kept reserved for anyone who threatened fairy tail. She was so full of rage that she didn't even summon a spirit, she just drew her whip, shocking the master, and started to attack him, lash after lash, she struck at him. I hadn't even needed to help.

Only latter had I realized that she saw that he was physically weak, and by attacking his body she had rendered him defenseless, and completely at her mercy, and she was showing none.

When she started to yell at him though I realized how much it must have broke her heart to see children's lives being threatened. When she asked how he could do that to children, how he could so utterly terrify them without a second thought, told him how he was a heartless monster that didn't deserve to live. I had to go up to her and grab her from behind to get her to stop, but what I hadn't expected was for her to look back at me with tears in her eyes and lean into my chest, silently crying her eyes out. All of that fire, just gone in a second. All I could do was hold her as she wept and try to comfort her.

Once the guild from the next town over had come (turns out it was Lamia Scale, go figure) the issue had been dealt with and me and Lucy had tied all of the dark wizards up in the schools cafeteria. Lyon had complemented us and told Lucy that he was impressed by how much stronger she had gotten before he went to go inform the magic council of what had happened (though we managed to get him to agree to tell them that Lamia Scale had taken down the dark guild and not me and Lucy, Gramps would kill us if he found out we took on a whole guild by ourselves). The villagers had been thankful we saved them and their children but Lucy insisted that we pay for the damages caused during the fight, hence why she was complaining now. The village had wanted to host a dinner for us but we had to leave before the magic police (A.K.A. the army) showed up, so we had to turn them down and leave(I wanted to stay for dinner but I did NOT want to deal with the magic council getting on fairy tails case again.

So here we were walking through the forest, trying to find a good place to make camp before dark. Lucy had calmed down from both earlier and about her shirt.

Oh yea, her shirt. Well the top she had been wearing during the fight had been, in one word, trashed, and that _was_ her spare; she packed two shirts for this mission, just in case one got destroyed, but now both were destroyed. So she had to borrow one of mine, not a big deal, if it didn't make her look absolutely stunning. But it did, so it was. Because I had had a crush on her for a while now. Well crush didn't quite sum up what I felt, love was more of the right word, and that only barely began to describe what I felt. Yea, crazy, me the dense dragon slayer, Natsu Dragneel, was in love with the beautiful celestial mage Lucy Heartfilia.

We were walking side by side, scouting the area for a good place to set up camp as the temperature started to noticeably drop.

And I heard the unnatural russle of some leaves

"hey Natsu I think that looks-MMPH" she stared at my hand covering her mouth as I cut her off mid sentence. I turned in a circle listening for the sound of anything that didn't belong, I thought for a second that maybe it had been my imagination, but than I heard something; shallow breathing. And it was coming from behind us, someone was following us.

"Whose back there!" I yelled spinning towards the sound,

Nothing

"don't try and hide I can her you breathing, never doubt a dragons senses"

Slowly, out from behind a tree a small girl emerged. She looked about three and had pink hair only a few shades lighter than mine, and big brown eyes, like Lucy's. She was dressed in a blue dress that had obviously seen better days. The girl didn't look much better either. I stared at her baffled as I tried to understand why a little girl would be following us. Slowly, like she wasn't sure what to say, she spoke

"hi, my name's Kalie. What's yours?"

She sounded like she had to fight for each word, like she was barely fighting off fatigue or sickness.

I looked at Lucy concerned, wondering what to do, and saw that she was just as confused as I was. Why was there a little girl following us? A sick little girl at that. We turned back to the girl, and Lucy was the one to speak, she took a step forward.

"hi Kalie, that's a lovely name you have. I'm Lucy and this is my partner Natsu. Are you ok? you don't look that well."

"Lucy and Natsu" she mumbled, and even I had a hard time understanding what she said, than she spoke up "thank you," she paused and took a breath, like speaking was exhausting her, "and yes I'm fine" another pause

"I'm just a little-" she was starting to sway. I took a step forward, so did Lucy.

"tired" and she fainted

Me and Lucy were already running towards the girl as she started collapse, Lucy got there before me and managed to catch the girl before she hit the ground.

"hey, hey, Kalie?! Kalie, are you ok? Kalie?!" Lucy rocked the girl in her arms with concern as she took her pulse, and a few seconds later she sighed in relief,

"she's just unconscious, hopefully she'll wake up soon." I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding.

"Natsu can you just set up camp somewhere close to here? I want to make sure Kalie's ok before we go anywhere, she may have family out here looking for her and I wouldn't want them to be worried."

I nodded in agreement and just started to set up right where we were, I was just as worried about this girl as Lucy. I knew nothing about her except her name, and I was already feeling as protective of Kalie as I do for any of my guild mates. It was weird but I paid no mind to it.

Ten minutes later I finished setting up camp relatively quickly being that our "camp" consisted of one small tent with two sleeping bags inside and a fire outside of the tent.

"hey Lucy, I finished I finished putting up the tent, if you want to bring Kalie inside go ahead,

"thanks Natsu"

"no problem,"

We were quiet as Lucy brought Kalie inside the tent and placed her inside of a sleeping bag, when she came out she just sat next to me by the fire; we sat and stared at the fire for a minute before I saw Lucy shiver out of the corner of my eye.

"hey you cold?"

"yea I'll be fine though, I'm more concerned about Kalie, what's a little girl like her doing out this deep in the forest? And why was she following us?" she shivered again, so I moved behind her and sat down again so that she was sitting between my legs, then I picked her up and placed her on my lap wrapping my arms around her.

"Nat-!"

"better?" she was confused for a moment, then seemed to realize that she wasn't cold anymore,

"y-yea, thanks."

"its no problem. you were cold"

She stayed still for a few seconds, then I felt her relax back into my hug. Only then did I really realize what I had done, and I felt my face start to heat up. Great I was blushing. Oh well it was worth it, I rested my chin on her shoulder. So we just sat there like that in silence, enjoying each others company. With every breath I took I inhaled her scent, strawberries and vanilla, every time I would smell it it would calm me down. It didn't matter where I was or what I was doing or who I was fighting, I could be in the middle of a fight with that ice bastard and as soon as I smell her walk into the guild I don't even care about the fight anymore, I just stop and go say hi to her. Dear god am I in love with this girl.

"anyway what do you think she could have been doing out here? I mean we're miles from any towns"

Oh yea, we had been talking about Kalie.

"I don't know, I mean, she doesn't smell weird like any dark magic, if anything she smells too much like herself, like she's not around people a lot. And she was really tired, but I'm pretty sure that I sensed some magic energy coming from her"

"so you sensed that too, huh?"

"yea,"

"it just doesn't make sense! She looks like she's barely three! The only place she could have come from is that last village, but that's ten miles back! How could a girl that young walk all that way? And doesn't she have a family that's worried about her? she's far too young to be in school, so its not like she's one of the students we saved, so just who is she?" I could tell that how Kalie came to be here really wasn't sitting well with Lucy; even if she could get out here on her own, what parent would just let their child wander off like that?

"Luce I'm not gonna pretend to know any of that, but I do know that however she came to be here its because she wanted to be here, because other than why and how she's here there is nothing off about her. She doesn't smell like anything even remotely bad, there was no one else in the woods with her when we found her, and shea's passed out in the tent right now. So as far as I can tell, she checks out. She's just a three year old little girl who happens to have at least some magic power."

"that's not it though. I'm worried about her. she's unconscious inside a tent and we don't know anything about her, she could have a medical condition and we wouldn't even know how to help! We just met her and we know nothing about her, yet if anything happened to her-" she chocked up, but she didn't need to finish the sentence, I felt the same way. But I still wasn't expecting her to turn around in the hug so she could face me and break down crying into my chest.

I understood why she felt like she did; something about Kalie seemed familiar, not like I had met her before, no, it was more like when you look at a picture of someone from long before you knew them and can't quite recognize them till someone points it out to you. But all I could do was try and comfort her, so I started rubbing my hands up and down her back in an attempt to calm her down, then started to speak.

"I know, me too. And for some reason she seems really familiar, but for now all we can do is bring her back to magnolia with us tomorrow, and if she doesn't wake up by the time we get there than we take her to Porlyusica's to see if she can help. Ok?"

"yea ok, I don't why this is getting to me so much." I hugged her tighter and brought her head into my chest.

"hey its ok. you can cry all you need to, no ones judging you for being sad. But think of it this way, at least we found her. if she had passed out any earlier than we wouldn't have found her and she'd be freezing to death right here in the forest, while we were asleep a mile south of here with no clue she even existed. So at least she's alive"

She stopped crying. She looked up and smiled at me; Mavis, if my heart didn't melt every time she did that.

"you're right, things could have been a lot worse. 'Thanks for that"

**'****I'd do anything for you'**

"no problem, now come on, lets go to sleep, and I hope you don't mind sharing a sleeping bag cause, I'm not making you or Kalie sleep on the ground and I'm sure as hell not about to. And if I was her I wouldn't want to wake up next to someone I don't know"

She laughed and said

"oh what a gentleman, of course I don't mind you idiot, its not like you don't sneak into my apartment and sleep in my bed every night" now I laughed, mainly because it was true.

Quietly we got settled in the tent and slipped into the sleeping bag. It was a tight fit, but we made it work, but not without it being a little awkward. Eventually we wound up with me lying on my back and Lucy lying half on top of me on her stomach, it was intimate to say the least, and for the first few minutes it was awkward, but I was getting really tired and it wasn't comfortable for either of us, so I wrapped my arms around her waist and shifted a little so that our legs were tangled together and her arms were resting on mine. Even in the dark I could see the blush stain her cheeks, and I felt the blush on my own, but I didn't care. A couple or not, the woman I loved was in my arms as we fell asleep and nothing could have made me happier.

"night Lucy"

"night Natsu"

_**End chapter one.**_

**so so like always- feedback is _always_ welcome, constructive criticism and praise alike. and i just want to say that i really love all of you guys here on , i like to watch my stories for the first few days after i put them up to see what people think of my writing and it makes me really happy to see that people are enjoying it. its Christmas eve tonight and i just really wanted to thank any and all of you that have ever written a review on one of my stories or clicked the "favorite" or 'follow" button for any of my stories, I've never been that confident about my writing and every time i see a new review or or more views it makes me really happy. sorry that was so long, but anyway i'll try to post the next chapter as soon as possible.  
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**goodbye for now!**


	2. Chapter 2

**hey guys! long time no see! omg i am so sorry i havent posted for this story in a while but i went on vacation over Christmas break and the wifi there was terible, not to mention i had to sleep on a blow up matress in the family room, can i just say- NOT FUN. i had no where to write! and waking up to my niece screaming every mourning didnt exactly help my creativity. but anyway here the second chapter for this story!**

**disclaimer: i do not own fairy tail or any of its characters, just my OC kalie. all other rights go to Hiro Mashima.**

**…****Lucy's****POV…**

The morning after we found Kalie in the woods, I woke up to an unnatural warmth beneath me. But I was still perfectly content being asleep and rolled over, well that is I tried. When I tried to roll over I found that there was something trapping me, **'what the hell?'** I thought. Groggily, I opened my eyes to figure out why I couldn't move. What I saw made me blush a million shades of red.

I was lying on top of Natsu, he had his arms around my waist and my head was resting on his chest.

_Neural processing complete in_

_3_

_2_

_1_

_0_

_…_

My eyes shot open and my head recoiled back, I barely stopped a squeak of surprise from exiting my throat. It's not uncommon for Natsu to sneak into my house at night with Happy to sleep in my bed but nothing like this had ever happened before. So what if I was MaybeSortaKindaProbablySlightlyDefinitelyInWayToDeepInLoveWithHim, nothing we had ever said or done would make it ok for us to do this, nothing!

**'****wait why were we sleeping like this?! And why can't I move? Wait a minute… that's right! We found a little girl last night and had to share a sleeping bag. The little girl! Kalie! Is she ok? I need to go check on her, but first I have to wake up Natsu.'**

I looked back up at Natsu, his head was turned to the right and for once he wasn't snoring, his lips held a small smile; he seemed to be dreaming, and peaceful dreams at that. Each breath was even, and deep, in through the nose, out through the mouth. I was about to try and wake him up, but then his head flipped the other way and his brow furrowed. His breathing started to become uneven and I looked at him trying to decide if I should wake him up or not; but just as I decided I should, his grip around me tightened, pulling me close to him, like he was afraid I would vanish.

"Lucy…please, no… don't… stop… no… no, **_no-_**"

His eyes shot open and his head snapped forward, unwrapping his arms from around my waist.

"LUCY!"

I starred at him wide eyed for a second as he tried to figure out where he was, he was panting and shaking, two things I'd never seen him do outside of battle. As soon as he saw me he sat up and hugged me like it was the last time he would ever see me. I didn't know what had brought it on but I hugged him back.

"hey, Natsu you ok? What's wrong? You have a nightmare?"

His grip only tightened when he heard my voice, burying his head in the crook between my neck and shoulder. He took in a few deep breaths then mumbled something into my neck that I couldn't understand, but I didn't have to know what he was saying for it to send shivers through my body.

"What did you say Natsu? I couldn't hear you."

He hugged me tighter, but lifted his head to speak,

"you're alive"

His voice was thick with emotion, relief but there was something else too, something I couldn't place. But what struck me is how he said what he said, 'you're alive'. Not 'we're alive' or 'it was just a dream'. No. he said 'you're alive'.

"of course I'm alive, who else would keep you in check?" I felt him laugh

"no one, not even Erza"

"see, how could I die and just leave you? It be chaos"

"are you two in love?"

I froze.

Natsu finally found it in himself to pull back and look at me, even though it might not have been an appropriate time, I noticed that he had tears in his eyes. Natsu had been crying; because he had a _dream_ where I died.

We both looked to the sleeping bag next to us and found that we had not been hallucinating. Kalie was sitting up in her sleeping bag, completely awake and staring at us. I felt a blush rise up my cheeks remembering her words, because she wasn't necessarily wrong. At least, not on my half of her guess.

"so are you?"

I chanced a quick glance at Natsu and saw that he had done the same, our blushing intensified as we snapped our head away.

"you are."

"WHAT?!" me and Natsu yelled at the same time, then glancing at each other in shock that we spoke at the same time.

"you don't think you are? its obvious enough to me." Natsu just sat gaping at Kalie so I decided I might as well try and make a save for our dignity.

"wait, you wake up in a sleeping bag in the middle of the woods next to two people you don't know anything about and the first question on your mind is whether or not those two people are in love?"

"yup"

"you are one strange kid Kalie, you know." She beamed at my description of her and replied with a simple

"yup!"

Me and Natsu sweatdroped, then he mumbled under his breath so only I could hear

"who is this girl anyway?" or so we thought.

"I told you my names Kalie" she looked like she had been upset by our question, but was trying not to show it. But I guess Natsu didn't pick up on it.

"yea but Kalie who?"

And she started to cry, not just cry, she started to sob. Helpless, frustrated sobbing.

"I don't know, All I know is that my adoptive dad named me Kalie, I'm almost four years old, I'm a girl and a mage, and that the magic I use is celestial magic. I don't even know my real parents or my real name." This girl uses celestial magic too? I was shocked and it showed on my face. I honestly thought Yukino and I were the only two celestial mages left after the infinity clock incident. And Natsu was just as obviously shocked as I was.

"you mean you use the same type of magic as Lucy?" she seemed to ponder that for a moment and all I could do was stare at her.

"well yes we both use celestial magic but I don't summon spirits through the gate like Lucy does. It's more like your body magic Natsu. The celestial magic is part of me, and I can use it however I please. If I know of a spirit and their powers I can mimic them with my magic, and then create my own style. I can also cast spells like any other wizard."

I shared a look with Natsu, we were both thinking the same thing

**'****how could a girl this young be that powerful?'**

She was still crying, I didn't know how to respond to her so I took the safe route and asked about her magic,

"so Kalie what have you mastered doing with your magic yet?" she stopped crying and looked down moping after I asked, her whole demeanor shrugging towards the ground. Man her mood swings were almost as bad as Natsu's.

"not much, I've only ever met two spirits, Draco and Perseus, but only Draco taught me any magic, So I can only use golden flames. Well that and move the magic into certain parts of my body to fight if I need to, well, that and according to Perseus I'm good with a sword. And you wouldn't believe how many fights I've gotten drawn into! Boys can be idiots! Seriously! Who in their right mind would challenge a girl who just successfully beat a magic council representative in a fight to a fight?!"

Being that fairy tail had had our own scraps with the magic council I ignored the fact that she beat up one of their representatives, but I knew exactly what she meant.

"this guy" I shrugged towards Natsu.

"HEY-"

"oh you know its true" I said laughing, and I heard Kalie giggle besides me. I smiled at and laughed with her while Natsu tried to defend himself saying that he could so beat Erza in a fight if he tried.

"yea ok Natsu keep telling yourself that. Erza is on par with Mira and there is no way you could beat either of them, just accept it"

"hmph- yea right" he crossed his arms and turned away from us.

"and that attitude right there is what makes you you" I laughed again and so did Kalie. He turned around when he heard us laugh and smiled when he saw the grins on our faces.

We laughed for a minute then I remembered something.

"WAIT YOU MET DRACO?!"

Kalie bounced back at my energetic and unbelieving question. She seemed like she was scared (in the same way that Natsu and Gray get scared of me whenever they break into my apartment) and hesitant to answer.

But I didn't expect Natsu to speak up.

"Wait! Draco is a dragon right?! you said you learned fire from him?! Do you know where he is?! He might know where Igneel is!"

Well, more like he jumped right back into his lost child obsession with finding his dad. Not that I blamed him, who wouldn't want to find their lost parent? but It broke my heart every time he got his hopes up only to be let down. That never stopped him though.

"um, yea I know Draco. He raised me since I was a baby, I never knew my parents, he said he found me in the woods barely a day old, and he took care of me, taught me how to use the magic inside of me, told me its true potential, he was a good parent. That is till about 6 months ago. He disappeared without a trace. I've been looking for him since. But I haven't found anything. He's just, gone."

I couldn't believe how similar her story was to those of the dragon slayers, but she said that Draco raised her. but maybe that was a misunderstanding between dragon and child. Or a lie.

A second after she said that she started crying again, but this time it was out of despair, not frustration. My eyes widened and jumped forward the same time Natsu did to hug her. and he was the one to speak.

"hey kalie? Its ok, you know why? Because the same thing happened to me. I was abandoned by my parents when I was really little, but a fire dragon named Igneel found me in the woods and took me in. he raised me as his own, and made me dragon slayer. But 14 years ago he just up and left, not a trace, no goodbye, no explanation. He just left. And to this day I still keep an eye out for him, listen for any tales of dragons sightings in the country, because I might find him one day, I might not, but that's ok. And for a lost magic, there sure are a lot of us dragon slayers; 5 in total. The Sabertooth guild has Sting Eucliffe, a light dragon slayer, and Rogue Cheney, a shadow dragon slayer. Then in fairy tail, the guild me and Lucy are from, there are three dragon slayers, Me, Wendy Marvel, a sky dragon slayer, and Gajeel Redfox, an iron dragon slayer. You're not alone, so come on, show us a smile!"

It was definitely one of the longest emotional speeches Natsu had ever given, and at the end he gave her his signature grin. Even I had to smile at that, even if the speech had nothing to do with me. And true to the reputation he was famous for, for being able to cheer people up, and give them hope, no matter how hopeless, she looked up and smiled.

"so all of you lost your dragons?"

We all pulled out of the hug.

"yup, and now you're one of us." Then he turned to me "hey Luce, you guys said that Draco is a spirit, right"

"yea but, no one, other than Kalie apparently, has seen him in hundreds of years. My mother used to tell me a story about him, it said that the last human he talked to before he diapered was Zeref in an attempt to rekindle Zeref's faith in humanity. But when he failed he disappeared, just vanished off the map, not to return until Zeref is dead, saved, or completes his mission of eradicating humanity. So how was he here?"

As I told the tale, a spark of recognition appeared in Natsu's eyes, and we spoke without speaking. It went something like this:

Natsu: *recognition in his eyes and is slightly unnerved*

Me: *curiousity* what's wrong?

Natsu: *I'll tell you later*

That's just something we can do, speak without speaking. We just started doing it one day, I can't even remember when, just that it's helpful in battle when we need to get the upper hand.

He turned back to Kalie

"so from what I can understand, you're a dragon slayer too, Draco just never told you what it was. Now normally our Dragon tells us what it's teaching us, but I guess I'll have to do for now. Hmm how does a celestial dragon slayer sound to you, or maybe celestial fire dragon slayer? Yea that second one sounds good. Being a dragon slayer means holding the pride of the dragons while they're not here. Think you can handle the responsability?"

She looked up at him, unsure at first, but then smiling a grin that closely resembled Natsu's

"Yea! I'm all fired up!"

"Great! And hey! That's my line!" she stopped and stared at him for a moment before speaking,

"no, that's what Draco used to have me say whenever I was sad to get me excited about something"

Natsu stared at me wide eyed after she said that, and slightly shook his head, like that couldn't be right. Kalie, thank mavis, didn't notice.

"well then I guess its both of you guys' line now. Looks like you'll have to learn to share."

It drew Kalie's attention to me for a few seconds, enough time for Natsu to regain his composure. He thanked me with a small smile, before returning to his normal, goofy self.

"hey Kalie, you know what else? If you were taught by Draco and I was taught by Igneel that makes you like my little cousin."

She smiled thinking about it for a second, then the smile changed into a smirk.

"well, couldn't I be your daughter?"

And once again, Kalie the strange child made an appearance.

"WHAT?!" this time only Natsu asked as I tried to hide my laughter.

"well you're a fire dragon slayer and Lucy's a celestial wizard so its like I'm your daughter.

"WHAT?!" and this time we both asked, and once again blushing like idiots. She frowned at our reactions, and was once again on the brink of tears.

"sorry if I made you upset, I just thought it was kind of funny that the first two people I've met that are nice have the two kinds of magic that mine comes form. Celestial and fire. But what would I know, I never did have a mom and a dad, how would I know what its like to have parents. Never even had a friend."

We jumped back into the hug.

"no that's not true!"

"We're not upset! And it doesn't just have to be ironic! We'll be your new mom and dad, ok? Well take care of you, no one deserves to be sad and alone like you've been the passed few months. You can come back to magnolia with us, you can join fairy tail if you want to, you'll make friends and learn to use your magic to its full potential. Do you want that?"

She nodded her head against my chest. Natsu and I shared a glance, he nodded his head in approval, **'so he thought that too'**

"ok, than we'll do that"

"yea, me and Lucy will be your mom and dad, we'll take you back to fairy tail, and you can meet all of our friends! They'll love you!" she looked up and smiled

"well than what are you waiting for lets go!"

We all laughed and started to pack up camp. As soon as we finished that we started off in the direction of magnolia.

**…****Natsu's POV…**

When we came within sight of magnolia Kalie got really excited.

"mommy daddy is that magnolia?!" me and Lucy were shocked that she called us "mommy" and "daddy" and looked at each other and just smiled,

"yea it is. And see that building over there" Lucy pointed to the guild, "that's fairy tail"

She grabbed mine and Lucy's hands and started running down to the guild, only to be pulled back by both of us and swung between us. She wasn't expecting it and started to giggle, continuing to swing between the two of us with her knees tucked up so she wouldn't touch the ground. I laughed and let her do it as we walked, but then Lucy had an idea

"hey, how about we go get you some new clothes then go back to my apartment and get you cleaned up, then we can go to the guild first thing tomorrow morning." Then she lowered her voice so only I could hear, "the guilds probly a drunken mess by now" I chuckled knowing that she was right even though it was only about 3 in the afternoon.

And even though I said that she was technically a dragon slayer, I didn't think that she had the senses of one. I was wrong.

"SO IT IS THE AME GUILD! I THOUGHT I HEARD THE NAME FAIRY TAIL BEFORE!" Lucy looked at me and sweatdropped, I just laughed.

"oh so that's what you heard of the guild huh?" of course Lucy focuses on that fact, but I was more curious as to how she heard it. Lucy knew how to talk to me so that only I could hear; well me or any nearby dragon slayer.

Even though Lucy and the rest of the guild call me dumb, I really do notice a lot more than I let on. Like how this girl was telling what she believed to be the truth, but it didn't line up for me. Something was off. This girl really _was_ a dragon slayer. So _how?_ Who raised her? I doubt a spirit raised her. You can't become a dragon slayer that powerful in 4 years. Even wendy, she was with her dragon till she was around five, and she still hasn't mastered all of it, even with Poryluscia helping her.

"yea your right Luce, off to town we go than!" I picked up Kalie and put her on my shoulders, grabbed Lucys hand,

"NatsUU! SLOW DOWN!" Lucy yelled as I started to run to town. Me and Kalie laughed as Lucy screamed for me to slow down all the way into town, earning more than a few strange glances our way. People that thought we were just some more fairy tail mages causing a ruckus like normal, no doubt. I laughed and kept running, till we were around the shops.

I lowered kalie from my shoulders only for lucy to pick her up and place her on her hip.

"Natsu, its just going to be some shopping if you want to go get happy then meet us back at my apartment you can do that." There was no way I was going to ditch them, but I just laughed.

"why? He's going to be here in about 3,2,1…"

"NATSU!"

"UMPH-!"

Well I didn't expect him to fly into my face.

They laughed as they saw me get smothered by my blue haired best friend.

"hey Happs, how was staying at Wendy's and Carla's?"

"IT WAS TERRIBLE! ERZA WOULDN'T LET ME BRING ANY FISH INTO FAIRY HILLS! SHE SAID ID LEAVE IT SOMEWHERE AND IT WOULD MAKE THE WHOLE PLACE SMELL!" I HAD TO GO A WHOLE TWO DAYS WITHOUT FISH!"

"WHAT THAT'S TERRIBLE!"

"I KNOW!"

Happy broke down into anime tears as I dreaded the idea of two days without good food. When I looked up at the girls Lucy was giggling at mine and Happy's behavior and Kalie was just looking at us like we were idiots, funny, ridiculous idiots. I looked at her and smiled and she started to giggle with Lucy, then she pointed to Happy.

"that's a funny cat"

Happy looked over,

"hey Natsu who's the kid?"

"I'm his daughter" and she spoke up before I could say anything, great, just great.

"WHAT?! Natsu you never told me you had a daughter!"

"she's not my real daughter Happy, but me and Lucy are like her parents for now. We found her in the woods alone and are going to take care of her. we were just on our way to get her some new clothes."

'so kind of like how you and Lisanna took care of me." I internally cringed when he said that, and I saw Lucy visibly cringe, if only slightly.

Happy you just had to bring that up, didn't you? I love the little guy, I mean he's like my son\best friend in a weird sort of way, but I swear he can have the worst timing and ask the worst questions sometimes.

"not really Happs, it's a little different."

"why?"

"it just is, that was a game Lisanna came up with to help us hatch you, but me and Lucy have to take care of little Kalie here till she can take care of herself. And that's not till she's a lot older"

It hadn't really hit me till then how big this really was. We just committed to take care of this little girl till she could fend for herself, not that she couldn't already, but she shouldn't have to do it alone, and she's still way too young to take on any missions. I don't care how strong she is no one at the guild would let her go, that's a fact. I looked over at Lucy and figured that she had the same thought as me. We were best friends and we just (unofficially) adopted a kid. I guess we'd talk about it latter, along with everything else that we need to talk about. Like this girl, how we were going to pull this off exactly, and who I think Kalie really is.

**_Later that day…_**

"oh aren't you just the cutest thing!"

Kalie had just stepped out of Lucy's bathroom in the new clothes we bought today, and Lucy was squealing with excitement. Though I had to admit, Kalie was a cute little four year old. She was dressed in a knee length blue dress, and since she was a fire mage we didn't need to worry about her getting cold, so it was almost a summer dress that flared out a little at the knees.

"I'm not sure, it doesn't feel… right." I caught Lucy frown and lightly chuckle, but I smirked, if she had been our biological daughter this girl would take after me way more than Lucy. **'whoa- where did that thought come from? Oh well'**

"hold on then-" Kalie and Lucy turned to look at me as I dug through one of the shopping bags till I found what I was looking for, "how about… this?" I held up a top and pants that closely resembled my own, but obviously made for a little girl. The pants were the same but instead of a vest it was a long black top with gold trimmings in the style of the dress she was wearing.

When Kalie saw the outfit she ran up to me and leaped into a hug yelling,

"its perfect! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

I grinned and spun her around making her laugh. When I set her down I looked at Lucy to see her rolling her eyes and shake her head as if she disapproved, but her smile was a dead giveaway that she thought anything but. I grinned wider seeing them happy with my choice, guess I wasn't to bad at this whole 'dad thing'.

"well that settles the issue of clothing, but its getting late so I think we should all head off to bed. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day." I nodded in agreement at Lucy's statement despite Kalies whine of disappointment.

"ok" she sighed dejectedly before walking into the bathroom to put on her new PJ's, and when she walked out she had a blush on her face and was looking slightly nervous.

"hey mommy? Daddy?"

"yea, what is it sweetie?" I asked her.

"can I sleep with you and mommy tonight? I m scarred that I'm gonna wake up in the woods alone somewhere and this is gonna all just be a dream." She looked down and slightly embarrassed but I understood what she was thinking, that's what I thought when I met Igneel all those years ago. There was only one problem, I was supposed to be sleeping on the couch that night, and Kalie and Lucy were going to sleep on the bed.

Lucy walked forward and crouched down next to her,

"yea you're going to sleep on the bed with me but daddy's going to sleep on the couch tonight, we're going to raise you like you're our own daughter, no doubt about it, but we're not dating. We don't sleep in the same bed" she spoke soothingly to the young girl to try and get her to understand, but all that it brought were tears pooling in the corners of her eyes,

"but why not?" her voice was trembling, but she looked back up at us and I was surprised to see anger. But then when she let the tears go it was like she turned into a different person, she seemed to draw the light out of the air surrounding her, and her face held rage and sorrow but something else too, something that seemed to have no origin-= betrayal. Then she started to speak, only at a whisper at first, but that whisper soon turned into a saddened yell.

"_why?_ Do you not love me?! Am I not important to you?! Do you wish you never found me?! DO YOU EVEN WANT ME TO EXICST?!" and as soon as those last words left her lips she collapsed onto the carpet, Lucy and I ran forward to help her, and when I caught Lucy's gaze I almost wished I didn't, almost. But I knew what she was feeling, and I knew my face held the same look. Concern, confusion, and most of all- hurt, from the accusations that had just been directed at us.

"Kalie! Come on baby girl wake up! I need you to wake up for me!" Lucy spoke as if it was her own child who just collapsed on the floor, and at this point, she was. Kalie was our child, nothing would change that now.

"mommy…"

Her eyes remained closed but we sighed a breath of relief when she spoke,

"thank god…" I mumbled as I picked up Kalie and rocked her in my arms. I stood up and walked over to the bed, gently laying her down and tucking her in. when that was done I turned to Lucy.

"we need to talk"

"and that Natsu, is putting it mildly."

**if youve reached this you have finished reading this chapter, so please reveiw! i love to hear your comments, even negative ones are great if they are constructive and written to help me improve my writing! thank you guys for being so amazing! till next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**hey guys i am so sorry these chapters are taking so long to post but me and my friend are working on an original story and its taking up most of my free time! but i swear if it is taking me this long to post it is going to be my very best work! anyway here is the next chapter, please R/R!**

**…****Natsu's Pov…**

We walked into the kitchen and shut the door behind us. There was a tense silence as I sat down at the table while she made tea. A few minutes later she sat down across from me and slid one of the two mugs she was holding across the table to me. We sat there in silence sipping our tea, trying to think of something to say, when she spoke up.

"hey natsu?"

"yea?"

"were you having a nightmare about me last night?"

I looked at her, shocked that I had forgotten about the nightmare, I had been too distracted by Kalie. I thought about it for a second trying to remember what it was that I had been dreaming about, and when it did it came crashing down like water escaping from a broken damn. I clutched my head in pain as I relived it.

_It had been a normal mission for us, take out some dark guild members that had been terrorizing the towns they passed through. It was only supposed to be three or four mages, easy. I knew with both me and Lucy it wouldn't take more than a few minutes once we found them, they weren't even supposed to be that powerful. How wrong our information was._

_Because I was currently chained to a chair with magic canceling runes etched onto them, watching helplessly as the love of my life was tortured before by very eyes with no clue I was there. Turned out that it hadn't been three dark mages after all, but a whole dark guild, and we played right into their trap, getting lured into the woods, cornered, and ambushed. Hitting us with magic sedatives, they stormed in and I couldn't do anything as they tied us up, barely spotting Happy fly off for help before blacking out. _

_With each of her screams for me to come and help her I broke a little more, and with every hit or kick or slap they gave her the angrier I got. I wanted nothing more than to break out of the chains and magic bubble that prevent me to help her and her to see or hear me._

_"__LUCY! LUCY! NO! STOP HURTING HER YOU BASTARDS! IF YOU LAY ANOTHER HAND ON HER I SWEAR I'LL-" I was cut off by the presence of a gag being placed over my mouth. Though it didn't do anything to stop me from screaming and thrashing against my restraints. I was a dragon, and there was nothing a dragon hated more than being defenseless._

_"__STOP FIGHTING YOU STUPID DRAGON! IF YOU DON'T WE'LL DO MUCH WORSE TO YOU'RE LITTLE MATE THAN HURT HER!"_

**_'_****_my mate…? What the hell is he- no… No. NO!'_**_and I suddenly remembered what Igneel had told me about mates all those years ago. That she would be the only girl I ever loved, that I would rather die than she her in pain. And he was damn right about that last fact. Because I would rather bear any physical torture than have to watch Lucy go through this thinking she was alone. _

_"__JUST STOP HURTING HER! LET HER GO!"_

_"__no problem, we'll let her go, if you take her place"_

_"__if you promise you let her go you can kill me for all I care" he smirked_

_"__the actions of a man in love- you have my word, you take her place, and she goes free"_

_"__then just do it!"_

_I watched as he dispelled the magic barrier that prevented her from seeing me, and as soon as he did I screamed her name_

_"__LUCY! LUCY IM HERE!" she looked up and opened her eyes to me_

_"__Natsu…?" if it weren't for my dragon hearing I wouldn't have heard her._

_"__yea Luce I'm here," I grinned my usual grin at her "its ok, you're going to be fine now I promise. I won't let them hurt you anymore" she looked at me concerned, scared, but not for herself; for me, for what I might do._

_She was about to speak when one of the thugs interrupted _

_"__oh how sweet, now as for your end of the deal,"_

_Quick as a whip he spun around bringing his foot up to my jaw._

_"__NATSU!"_

_"__its fine, you're gonna be okay, and that's all that matters" I smiled briefly at her, and she screamed my name as they continued to beat the crap out of me. It took all I had to not fight back, if I fought they would hurt her._

_"__how does it feel salamander? To be at the complete mercy of your enemy?"_

_"__I don't care" I spat out before coughing up some blood, "she'll be safe" I smiled my idiotic smile and let my head fall to the side._

_"__your an idiot salamander why would we let either of you go? Your going to die here, but hey at least you'll be together." My eyes widened at his words_

_"__NO YOU SWORE YOU'D LET HER GO!"_

_"__I lied, but you really should have expected that, you don't think strait when she's in danger do you? Can't handle her pain, cause its like its your own. Pathetic." He spat on me, "kill the girl"_

_"__DON'T TOUCH HER!"I fought against the restraints with every muscle in my body, I heard the chains start to strain against it, but I knew I couldn't get free in time. One of the thugs pulled her to her feet by her wrists, she whimpered in protest but was silenced by a slap to her cheek. One of the men pulled a sword from his belt and walked in front of her, turning to me he smirked evilly, before spinning around and thrusting the sword through her stomach. Her eyes shot open and she let out a scream, one that would haunt me for the rest of my life, because she screamed my name._

_"__NATSU!"_

_"__LUCY!"_

_Out of the corner of my eye I saw a door being kicked open by none other than Erza and Gray, but I paid no mind to it as my eyes were glued to Lucy's, they showed pain and fear, and I couldn't stop the blood curdling scream that ripped from my throat when they closed and the scent of death filled my nose, the sound was terrifying to anyone that heard it, even the great Titania flinched before her eyes widened and she ran with out pulling Gray behind her, realizing that whatever happened next would not be pretty, and would be very deadly._

_I ripped free of the chains and stood up, a fiery roar forcing its way passed my lips, horns growing from my head and scales covering parts of my body as I went into dragons force. The thugs trembled in fear like they damn well should have been. If they knew about dragons having mates than they should have known about the consequences of killing a dragons mate. They were deadly. Even if the dragon hasn't claimed their mate yet, they were the only one the dragon would ever love, and killing them was unacceptable. I ran towards her and cradled her in my arms, sobbing and screaming, _

_"__no, no, __**NOOOOOO**__!" my last word turned into another fiery roar faced towards the ceiling, Igniting the rafters._

_Some of the mages tried to run out but with a single movement of my hand I set the whole room and everything, and __**everyone**__ in it, on fire. Burning the dark guild members to a crisp in seconds as the whole building started to come down around me. All I could do was sit with her in my arms, silently sobbing in despair at the loss of my mate, the love of my life. I was still sobbing as the building came crashing down, and I only had time to whisper three little words_

_"__I love you…"_

_I heard the loud crack of a support beam breaking, and there was only darkness._

I grasped my head and gasped as it all came flooding back. I stood up to Quickly and knocked over the chair that I was sitting on, somehow managing to spill the tea at the same time, but that didn't matter to me at the moment. I ran to the garbage pail and puked my guts out at the memory. The dream had just been so _real_ as if it was a memory, not a dream, but the girl standing next to me saying comforting words in my ear was living proof that none of that really happened. **_'Living…_**** fuck-****_'_** my thoughts were cut off as I vomited again, remembering the stab wound that killed her in my nightmare. When I was done puking I braced myself against the counter, still leaning over the garbage making sure I wouldn't puke again. I almost lost it as her scent filled my nose, reminding me of the way her corpse had reeked of death, like her but with a sickly sweet tang to it, revolting would be the only way to describe it.

I was covered in a cold sweat as I finally regained my composer; I took a few deep breaths before standing up and facing Lucy.

"Natsu-" I cut her off by taking a step towards her and wrapping my arms around her, much like I did that morning, burying my head in the crook between her neck and shoulder, breathing in her scent trying to clear my nose of the repulsive smell of death. When I was sure that I wasn't dreaming, _that she was alive_, I started to cry against her head, I cried in sadness and relief and raw fear. She died in my dream; but she was alive and breathing; I can never go through that, I couldn't lose her, if I ever lost her I'd die.

"Natsu what's wrong?" her voice was heavy with concern; I had never broken down like this, ever. I just shook my head against her and continued to cry, she accepted my answer and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me closer and resting her head on my chest, rubbing my back comfortingly.

It was only after staying like that for a few minutes that I finally could calm down, sure that she was alive. She cleaned up the tea quickly and we sat down on the sofa facing each other, remaining in silence for only a few seconds before she spoke,

"do you want to talk about it?" how could I? she was my mate and I just had a nightmare were she died right in front of my eyes and I couldn't do anything to stop it, just the idea made me sick to my stomach. How could I tell her that?

Even with all of my fears I decided that I'd tell her about the dream, but would omit some of the details. I took a deep breath and began.

"we were on a mission, it was supposed to be simple, take down a few members of a dark guild that had been terrorizing the towns they passed through. But we were tricked, it wasn't just a few members, it was their whole guild. They cornered us in the forest and sedated us, when I woke up I was chained to a chair bound by magical restraints and you-" I choked up "you were being tortured. You were right in front of me, screaming for me to help, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. The worst part was that you didn't even know I was there. They had put a magic barrier around me so that you couldn't see or hear me. I hated it, you were being hurt and you thought you were all alone," I clenched my hands into fists, "and I was powerless! So I did all I could, I made a deal. They could torture me all they like, hell they could kill me, if it guarantied your safety. And I thought it worked, they took down they barrier and started to beat the crap out of me. But they lied, they had no intent to let you go, never even considered it, and they killed you. They killed you right in front of me and I could do nothing to stop it." I was trembling again.

"Natsu if you don't want-" I cut her off

"no, I'm okay, I just need a second" I took a few deep breaths and continued my retelling of the dream, all doubts and fears pushed away.

"that was the worst part, you were dead and I couldn't bear it, then I snapped. It wasn't me yet I was in complete control as I destroyed the restraints and stood, screaming. I noticed that Erza and Gray had come to try and help us, but they were too late, and one look at me and Erza ran dragging Gray out behind her, like she knew how much of a bad idea it would be to stay. And she was right, because I roared and somehow I went into full scale dragon force, and even though I had all that power at my disposal, even though I could have easily gotten revenge for what happened right there and then, I didn't. I ran to your side and started to cry, I was crying and screaming and hopeless. and when the mages from the dark guild tried to run, I killed them. I set the whole room on fire and killed them without a second thought. And I stayed by your side crying as the building came crashing down on us."

She looked at me shocked by what she just heard but I continued

"it scared me Lucy, what I did after you died. I couldn't think of anything else but the fact that you were gone, _you were gone_ and all I could do was cry and kill the people that hurt you I, I didn't even **_want_** to do anything else, not even move as the building crashed down on top of me. You were gone and I wanted to die" I looked down and started to cry.

I was scared of what her reaction would be, but what she did was the last thing I expected. She wasn't scared, she wasn't angry, she wasn't embarrassed. No, instead she was calm. Which made me a little nervous, than she started to talk.

"Natsu," she started off slowly, choosing her words carefully. "Natsu, I may be completely overstepping my boundaries, but why would you do something so drastic over my death?"

I knew I had to pick my next words carefully, they would determine the future of my friendship with Lucy. I stopped crying and looked up at her, coming to a decision. Well, I never had been good with words. I leaned forward and gently placed my lips against hers. The kiss was short and sweet, but I was still breathing heavy when I pulled away. I leaned my forehead against hers and whispered the same words from my dream,

"because I love you Lucy,"

I pulled back and searched her face for the rejection I feared, it never came. Instead, she smiled.

"love you too Natsu"

She leaned forward and enveloped me in a hug which I took no time in returning, I sighed in relief. **'she loves me too'**

"glad we got that settled then," she frowned and concern etched itself across her face, "so what do you think is up with Kalie?" oh yea, Kalie. Kalie, Kalie, Kalie; our little mystery girl.

"I'm not sure, but I do have an idea of who she is."

"yea I saw that when you almost panicked in the forest," her eyebrows rose and the corners of her mouth turned up. But I ignored it.

"hey you would have almost panicked too if you knew what I was thinking. That story, the one you told us about Draco, Igneel told it to me once as a kid, told me how Draco was amazing at using his magic to its full potential. It was just another lesson, but it was something that only us and celestial spirit wizards would know." I took a small breath to clear my head and help me think, then continued. "Kalie was talking about Draco like any of us dragon slayers would, and that's perfectly normal. But what she said about that line, 'I'm all fired up' Igneel used to say that to me _to cheer me up_, and igneel said that he started to saying that line hundreds of years ago, _because it would piss off his old friend Draco_."

Lucy is a very smart person, especially when it comes to figuring out clues; so it was no surprise when she caught right on to what she was trying to say.

"so you don't think she was raised by Draco, you think she was raised by-"

"Igneel" I finished for her. "I think she was raised by Igneel. I don't know why he would lie to her, maybe so that no one would hold her hostage thinking that she was my sister or something, I don't know. All I do know is that if I'm right and Igneel did raise her, he left for a reason. 14 years ago all the dragons left their children on the exact same day. So for Igneel to just raise another kid as a dragon slayer…. There had to have been something special about her. Something that only a dragon would really be able to see."

"so you think there's something magical about her that Igneel thought you needed to know about?"

"yea"

"well I guess we just have to figure out what that is, I mean its either we find out our selves or find Igneel- who has remained illusive for 14 years –and ask him."

I sighed and put my head in my hands

"how the hell are we gonna do any of that?"

"that is a wonderful question natsu"

**…**

That night we wound up sleeping in the same bed with Kalie, me and Lucy together cuddling and Kalie next to the wall clutching a teddy bear Lucy found before we went to sleep. When I woke up Lucy was already up and showering, and Kalie was smiling in her sleep. A great start to a crazy day. I grinned to myself and got up out of bed, I walked into the kitchen to wait for Lucy to get out of the shower and when I looked over at the couch I saw that Happy had made it his dwelling for the night. **'must have come home late and flew in threw the window'**. I walked over to the couch and kneeled in front of him, I smirked, oh did he make a mistake falling asleep away from Lucy.

"hey happy, Carla and Lily are getting married and having kittens, they're gonna have fish at the wedding but you're not invited" he shot up off the couch

"WHAT?! THEY'RE GETTING MARIED AND HAVING FISH AT THE WEDING?!" I was rolling around on the floor laughing my ass off and as soon as happy realized that I had been messing with him to get him to wake up he started crying anime tears.

"That's not funny Natsu! I thought Carla was actually gonna marry Lily!" he started wailing in a fake sad sort of way while I was still laughing on the ground, and I didn't notice Kalie come into the room dragging the teddy bear behind her by its arm. Even when I did notice I was still laughing to hard to say anything,

"daddy… the cat… what? What did I just walk in on?" she started to laugh, shy at first but as I was still laughing and Happy was still crying it soon grew more confident, and soon she was on the floor rolling around in laughter with me. Just not being able to believe what her eyes were telling her. We were still laughing when Lucy came out of the shower in a towel and walked in to see what all the noise was.

"what is going o- oh never mind with those two its not even worth it anymore." She sighed dejectedly facepalming, which only succeeded in making me and Kalie laugh more.

"I'm going to go put on clothes, then come back and make Breakfast, you had better be done laughing on the floor by the time I get back." Luckily for us we were able to calm our laughter and go sit at the table, but we would either look at each other or happy and not be able to stop the few giggles and laughs that left our throats. And when Lucy walked in she just smiled and shook her head then went to cook breakfast,

"I'm cooking but you two need to go clean up before you eat. Kalie you can take a bath later but I want you both to go wash you hands and faces then come back here. After breakfast Natsu you can go take a shower while I get Kalie ready to go to the guild."

Her statement earned loud complaints from both me and Kalie but after a stern look from Lucy and the threat of not eating breakfast we were both dashing off to the bathroom to wash our hands and faces then scrambling back to the kitchen for a breakfast of pancakes and eggs.

"danks por bweakfatht mommy twis is weally yummy" Kalie spoke with her mouth full and I just laughed, she had the same appetite as me. I guess we both got that from Igneel. But how much she looked like me and Lucy was unnerving. Yea she wasn't our real daughter, buts that's why it was so strange. Her hair was the same color as mine and her eyes were the same as Lucy's, it was obvious that she would have a figure like Lucy's when she grew up, but it was also quite obvious how strong she was. She was skinny but she obviously had a lot of muscle for a little girl. If we were her biological parents she would have been a perfect mix. Maybe it was just some freak coincidence, but whatever the reason I saw the same curious look on Lucy's face when she glanced at the girl.

When we finally left the apartment Kalie was wearing the clothes I picked out for her yesterday. I had laughed when I saw the bedroom though with clothes thrown across the room and Kalie smirking happily in the clothes I showed her last night and Lucy looking exasperated sitting on the bed. She yelled when she saw me,

"this is your fault! She gets this goddamned stubbornness from you and your father!" I just laughed realinsing that they had a fight about what Kalie would wear on her first trip to the guild, and Kalie was quite obviously victorious. Then I walked up to her and picked her up, placing her on my hip and looking at her,

"Kalie did you fight with your mom?" she folded her arms

"yes"

"not that I am disagreeing with you on the clothing but try not to fight with her, she already had enough stress from me and Happy." She smiled

"ok fine, whatever you say"

"that's my girl!" I spun her around a few times then set her down, taking one hand while Lucy held the other.

"well what are you two slowpokes waiting for lets go!" Kalie yelled pulling me and Lucy towards the door, we only smiled and looked at each other before leaning over the child between us for a quick kiss before complying and walking out the door, but not before Kalie could yell (and Happy could tease),

"I KNEW YOU TWO ARE IN LOVE!"

"you LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKE each other!"

We all laughed and set out towards the guild.


End file.
